Springfield Falcons look to bring winning ways on the road

The Republican file photoRyan Potulny says the Springfield Falcons must play better on the road.

SPRINGFIELD – They play like champs on home ice.

Away from the MassMutual Center, the Springfield Falcons have been chumps. Yes, the Falcons, who are home Friday against Lowell before taking to the road for two games, Saturday against the Worcester Sharks and Sunday for a rematch at Lowell, are sick of answering the question of why they can’t win on the road?

“It’s a fair question,” defenseman Jake Taylor said. “We’ve got to simplify our game when we’re on the road and go from there. We have confidence at home and we take pride in winning at home, but you need to take that same pride on the road.”

During the first month of the American Hockey League season, the Falcons are a perfect 3-0 at home. They are 0-4 on the road.

“We just haven’t performed well on the road,” forward Ryan Potulny said. “It shouldn’t matter where we play, it matters more how we play.

No American Hockey League team has gone 40-0 at home and 0-40 on the road and that isn’t likely to happen to the Falcons. Coach Rob Daum and the players are anxious to get that elusive first road victory before it becomes a pressing issue.

“It’s still early, but it’s something we definitely want to change,” Daum said. “You have to win on the road in order to have success in this league.”

What bothers Daum most is the way the Falcons have played on the road. With the expectation of the game in Glens Falls, N.Y., a 4-3 loss that could easily have been a win, the Falcons have not been competitive in their other three road games, getting outscored by a 23-6 margin.

Special teams will be a key this weekend. The Falcons are coming off road losses to Hartford (7-3) and Manchester (6-1).

“We need to do better on our power play,” Daum said. “I’m hoping it was just a tough (last) weekend and we’ll rebound this weekend.”

Potulny said the team has gotten the message.

“We need to keep the puck moving more on the power play,” Potulny said. “We’ve got to get more pucks on the net, which is how you score goals.”

Daum sees progress during the three short weeks the team has been together.

“Each practice, we seem to be getting better and better,” he said. “We’re by no means a finished product – we have a lot of work to do.”

Another thing that could help would be tighter defensive play.

“We’re still getting used to each other,” Taylor said. “We don’t a have one pairing that was the same as last year.”

Which is probably a good thing, given the team’s lack of success last year. Taylor forms the top unit with newcomer Dean Arsene.

“Dean brings leadership, experience and he’s a good team guy,” Taylor said. “He plays hard, sticks up for his teammates and you can never have enough of those guys on your team.”